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SPH-based numerical simulation of catastrophic debris flows after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

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Abstract

Post-earthquake debris flows that have occurred in Sichuan Province in southwestern China following the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, have caused significant damage and casualties. Previous earthquake-induced landslides produced large amounts of loose material that remained on the steep slopes and in the gullies. As a consequence of heavy rainstorms during the rainy seasons, the existing loose material was transformed into numerous debris flows. Research has shown that the debris flows in the Wenchuan earthquake disaster areas have been characterized by their large scale, high speed, long run-out, and destructive impact. In order to identify the areas potentially at risk and to predict the flow severity, an accurate numerical method is needed to simulate these debris flows. In this paper, we have proposed a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) modeling technique—a meshfree particle method—to simulate the post-earthquake debris flows in the Wenchuan earthquake disaster areas. The SPH modeling technique introduces a Bingham model to analyze the relationship between material stress rates and particle motion velocity. Compared to traditional numerical methods, the SPH modeling technique is a true meshfree method of a pure Lagrangian nature. It can instantaneously track the motion of each particle, accurately predict the velocity, and naturally handle problems with extremely large deformations. In addition, the SPH method is based on continuum mechanics, and is therefore an efficient method to simulate large-scale debris flows. In this work, first, a viscoplastic fluid was simulated and verified with experimental results in order to evaluate the accuracy of the SPH model. Then propagation analysis of two typical post-earthquake debris flows in earthquake-hit areas was carried out, applying the SPH model. The simulation results showed good agreement with the limited field observation data. Our proposed SPH numerical modeling is able to capture the fundamental dynamic behavior of post-earthquake debris flows and can partially explain these complex phenomena. These simulation results can provide a preliminary scientific basis for hazard assessment and site selection for reconstruction in earthquake-prone areas.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science under the China-Japan Scientific Cooperation Program (Grant No. 41211140042), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2012CB719803), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 41225011), and the Chang Jiang Scholars Program of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geotechnical Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Yu Huang, Hualin Cheng, Zili Dai & Fang Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Yu Huang & Fang Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geo-environment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Qiang Xu

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Gifu University, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan

    Kazuhide Sawada & Atsushi Yashima

  5. International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan

    Shuji Moriguchi

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  1. Yu Huang
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Correspondence to Yu Huang.

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Huang, Y., Cheng, H., Dai, Z. et al. SPH-based numerical simulation of catastrophic debris flows after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Bull Eng Geol Environ 74, 1137–1151 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-014-0705-6

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